Beekman becomes Bears' center of attention

Bear fans wanted to see Josh Beekman last year. Chicago’s season was already in ruins and the offensive line was broken. Why not get a look at the rookie fourth-round draft pick?

Matt Trowbridge

Bear fans wanted to see Josh Beekman last year. Chicago’s season was already in ruins and the offensive line was broken. Why not get a look at the rookie fourth-round draft pick?

Because Beekman wasn’t ready.

“I was so green,” said Beekman, who played in only one game. “I was just trying not to make any mistakes. It seems like every time I did something, it wasn’t the right thing.”

Beekman is now getting long looks in training camp, but not at his natural position.

He was expected to contend with John St. Clair and Terrence Metcalf for the left guard spot vacated by the retired Ruben Brown. But a torn Achilles tendon by six-time Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz had Beekman starting with the first team at center the first week of training camp.

Kreutz returned Tuesday, making Beekman the backup center. And with Kreutz around, he’s now far more likely to remain the backup center than become a starting guard.

“Beekman is going to be a real good center,” Kreutz said. “He has a great future.”

But it’s hard to have much of a future at center with the 31-year-old Kreutz on the team. And he’s no longer even practicing at guard.

“Wherever they send you to get reps, that’s where you want to go in,” Beekman said. “Having me be a center with the 1s is showing great faith in me. I can’t let them down.”

Beekman brought expectations with him because he and 2008 first-round tackle Chris Williams are the only offensive linemen the Bears have chosen in the first four rounds of the past six drafts.

And this seemed the perfect time to earn a spot on a line that last year gave up 43 sacks, 18 more than the year before, and paved the way for Chicago running backs to average 3.1 yards per carry, the worst in the NFL and the Bears’ worst in 37 years.

Instead, Beekman is a backup at a position he had only dabbled in before.

“My senior year in college, I played center here and there for a couple of games, and I played a little bit of center last year,” he said.

Now it’s full-time.

“With the way things are, we are looking at him at center,” offensive line coach Harry Hiestand said. “We’re putting all his attention to making a full-time transition, because he has to.

“It’s a good test for him. He has improved.”

Hiestand said Beekman “has a good snap” and “gets the ball up sharp.” He has not been overly physical, though, getting shoved around from time to time in practice.

But he’s finding his niche as a backup center, and seems happy with that.

“I’m not even thinking about left guard now,” Beekman said. “Wherever they put me now, that’s wherever I’ve got to be. Just to get the reps is the most important thing. It takes time to perfect your technique.

“You never know where you are going to be put and asked to go in this offense. I’m happy for the reps, wherever I get them.”

Matt Trowbridge can be reached at (815) 987-1383 or mtrowbridge@rrstar.com.

Josh Beekman

Position
Bears’ backup center

Size
6-foot-2, 310 pounds.

Age
24

Drafted
Fourth round in 2007

College
Boston College

Experience
Appeared in one game as a rookie, against Green Bay on Oct. 7.